In an era of electronic documentation and electronic handling of documents, there is still knowledge and capability gap in efficiently handle paper documents that carry a legal signature. The “paperless office” concept has been around for well over a decade. It has failed to move from theory to reality, however, because of cultural reticence, unequal access to technology, and the lack of an adequate legal and service infrastructure to support such a paradigm shift. At present, most large organizations such as banking institutes spend large sums of money for handling of signed documents. The handling activities are mandatory by law since the legislation involved with digital signature—public key infrastructure PKI, has not yet determined in some situations any practical means of creating fully electronic documents that allow their submission as authentic evidence in instates such as courts, as an example.
Several attempts were made in order to allow incorporation of electronic signatures into electronic documents. The production of an electronic signature is already known in the art; however, incorporating the signature in an electronic document is the problem to be solved. An example is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,689,567 “Electronic Signature Method and Apparatus” by Miyauchi. In another example taught in patent application published as WO03009217 “Electronic Signing of Documents” by Wu et al., a method for a person to sign a document by use of an electronic pen is introduced.
Another computer-based method for capturing and verifying a handwritten signature is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,064,751 “Document and Signature Data Capture System and Method” by Smithies et al. .and an identity authentication system that can be used in commercial transactions at a point-of-sale terminal is described in patent application published as WO03036861 “Security Access System” by Black. Another solution is described in patent application published as WO0223316 “Apparatus and Method for Acquiring Information and Producing a Signed Document” by Ornellas et al.
In neither of the available solutions, the person signing the document by electronic means is not sure that his signature is used properly and he signs on the document that he wishes to sign. In case a customer enters an organization such as a bank and need to sign a document, the fact that he has a private key container (like smart card) for signature, or any other biometric means, he needs to be sure that what he sees is what he signs.
The proposed solutions lack the security feature by which the digital signature becomes a part of the original document. Actually, the proposed solutions are not far from being scanned image of the signature once captured, can be cut and pasted onto any electronic document, making forgery a simple matter. There is a need to produce a digitized signature. Digital signatures are actual transformation of an electronic message using public key cryptography. Through this process, the digital signature is tied to the document being signed, as well as to the signer, and therefore cannot be reproduced. Most importantly, digitally signed electronic transactions should have the same legal weight as transactions signed in ink.